Design by Reborn's Persian Carpet Reincarnates as a Magnetic Robot.

For all you Transformer heads out there, do we have a project for you today or what?! Vietnam-based Design by Reborn has created their biggest sculpture to date – Ravana the Misunderstood – a Persian carpet reincarnated as a two-metre magnetic robot from Saigon.

Stumbling upon this one-of-a-kind rug in Galerie Shabab NYC, made in the 1920s by traditional Persian artisans, the team at Reborn were instantly transfixed and inside it saw a cosmic monolith with floral patterns that resemble miniature galaxies. Inspired to create, they made Ravana.

Entirely composed of wood with matte lacquered paint in collaboration with Vietnamese lacquer artisans, Ravana stands at two meters tall and is made up of five self-assembled parts which can be connected together through custom made earth magnets embedded into the wooden sculpture through the arms body and legs.

The Reborn design team made slight alterations to the patterns to embody that cosmic feel, look closer and you can find space crafts, black holes, stars, planets and cosmic beings. A total of over 7236 patterns are adorned throughout the design. As Reborn says, “If the cosmos was a being that was also a carpet, it would be Ravana.”

A twist on the classic diamond centre of a carpet is where Ravana’s heart lives, caving into a valley of 27 intricately hand-lacquered wooden layers that dive into the middle of the sculpture.

Borrowing its namesake from a mythical Sri Lankan king mentioned in the Hindu epic, Ramayana was fitting for this reincarnation. Seen as a complex character that evokes polarising views, Ravana is misinterpreted in popular belief. Some see him as the ultimate force of evil, but he was a knowledgeable scholar, scientist, lover and man of principle.

This resonated with Reborn, as the name has many interpretations so to can the rug transform into many forms.

Collaborating with local Vietnamese artists creates a symbiosis with the original Persian artisans that originally designed the rug. Spanning cultures to create something new layered from the old.

This is the first drop of their new series which the art studio intends to release soon inspired by Kurdish and Persian rug patterns and is available for pre-order on the Reborn Website.